The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 630 - 24 Best Friends_4
You could say that the Trail Blazers’ three big men were all maxed out on flexibility, capable of various combinations with the guards.
In the middle of the second quarter, after Barkley scored under the basket, Divac made a long, full-court pass from the backcourt directly to the frontcourt, where Petrović caught the ball for an easy layup, nabbing two points.
The entire Memorial Coliseum erupted in joy; Bill Schonely bellowed, "Rip-city!"
Gan Guoyang, sitting on the bench, also stood up to cheer for Divac—that pass was too spectacular and beautiful.
This kind of play was almost standard for European centers; Divac and Sabonis could both pull it off.
The Washington Bullets called a timeout, and it was then that Beelman had Divac and Cliff-Robinson substituted out for Gan Guoyang and Sabonis.
"That was beautiful, a milestone performance. You’ll have more opportunities in the second half," Beelman encouraged Divac.
In just half a period, Divac contributed 2 points, 2 blocks, 2 assists, and 3 rebounds, showing a well-rounded performance on the court.
Not only did he not drag the team down; he even led the team’s offense and defense to a certain extent. His performance was undoubtedly surprising.
With Divac’s performance, Gan Guoyang could afford to sit on the bench for a good five minutes to rest and adjust—a rarity.
Having young players in reserve felt incredibly good.
Relying on Divac’s outstanding play, the Trail Blazers gradually caught up on the scoreboard.
However, at the end of the first half, the Washington Bullets still managed to take the lead.
Aside from Barkley’s three-pointer, the Bullets’ small forward, John Williams, performed remarkably well.
He shot 6 for 5 in the half, scoring 12 points and dishing out 4 assists.
Jerome Kossie struggled to contain this hulking small forward.
John Williams stood 6’8" tall and weighed in at 245 pounds, the standard weight of a center.
He shared a name with the talented forward from the Cavaliers known as "hot rod" Williams—who was suspended—but their styles of play were completely different.
Their nicknames hinted at the difference: The Cavalier was known as "hot rod," while the Bullet Williams was dubbed "hot plate."
Although he had trouble maintaining his weight, just like Barkley, he wasn’t only similar to Barkley in terms of weight; his game was also very much alike. Both of them had the same college jersey number: 34.
Since John Williams came later, he could only wear number 33.
He had the height of a small forward with a well-rounded style. In some ways, he was Barkley’s backup, and his passing game was surprisingly excellent.
Last season he averaged 4.3 assists per game, suddenly becoming an important outside organizer for the Bullets.
This was one reason the Bullets let go of Moses Malone and traded Ma Hong for James Donaldson.
The Bullets saw the potential in John Williams. The "double Barkley" duo was more offensively potent than the "double butt," providing the Bullets with more flexibility in their offense since he could swap positions with Barkley.
All the Bullets needed was to backfill the center position with a seven-foot defensive stalwart like Donaldson, then their front-court trio of Barkley, Williams, and Bernard King would pack considerable firepower. Any defensive gaps would be left to Donaldson and the backcourt’s Moncrief to cover, making an offensive center like Moses Malone redundant.
The Bullets’ innovative and imaginative approach to the game meant they were extremely aggressive at the start of the season.
Even the Trail Blazers struggled to withstand them.
During halftime, Gan Guoyang volunteered to find an opportunity to deal with John Williams.
Beelman asked, "What about Barkley then?"
Gan Guoyang replied, "I can defend both."
"Don’t joke around. John will be Kossie and Sanders’ problem. You all must choke off his game."
Gan Guoyang said, "Williams is the key to the Bullets’ offense, he’s one of the few players on the Bullets with organizing abilities. Block John, and the Bullets’ offense will come to a halt, they’re going to have big trouble. Defending him might be even more important than defending Barkley."
Beelman agreed with Gan Guoyang’s assessment.
Right now, the most important offensive organizers for the Bullets were the two big men, Barkley and John Williams.
Bernard King, Moncrief, and Donaldson, among others, were all players with singular skills.
Although Beelman agreed with Gan Guoyang’s assessment, he still assigned the defensive task to Kossie.
"This is Kossie’s job; if he can’t handle this little issue in the regular season, what will we do in the playoffs when we face stronger front lines?"
With the coach saying that, Gan Guoyang could only give up, as Beelman did have a point.
And Kossie breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that although defending John Williams wouldn’t be easy, if Ah Gan went to defend Williams, then he’d have to defend Barkley!
In the third quarter, Kossie indeed stepped up his defense on John Williams.
While Williams rested on the bench, Kossie stayed in the game, sticking to him one-on-one closely.
With John Williams out of sync, the Bullets’ offensive fluidity immediately took a major dip.
They began to rely on Bernard King’s one-on-one plays.
King had played 81 of the 82 regular-season games last season, averaging 20 points per game.
This season, his condition further improved, scoring 30 points in a game against the Celtics.
However, relying solely on King’s one-on-one plays, the Bullets gradually fell behind the Trail Blazers in offensive efficiency.
The Trail Blazers’ half-court offense started to flow more smoothly, with crisp inside-out passing, swift side-to-side ball movement, and clear-cut drives, coupled with Gan Guoyang’s recovering mid-range touch. The Trail Blazers gradually caught up in the third quarter and overtook the Bullets.
The Bullets could only rely on the one-on-one plays of King and Barkley, with Barkley starting to miss his shots under Gan Guoyang’s tight defense.
The cocky confidence Barkley had shown in the first half slowly subsided.
Kossie and Gan Guoyang both had size advantages over John Williams and Barkley.
The Trail Blazers’ frontcourt was already quite tall, with Sabonis and Divac towering over the court like stalwarts.
The Trail Blazers kept good control of the rebounds.
The Bullet Team’s offense became increasingly listless, with John Williams going from 6 out of 5 in the first half to 6 out of 1 in the second half, only managing one assist.
Gan Guoyang was very accurate; John Williams’ playmaking passes were extremely important to the Bullet Team’s offense.
By December, when John Williams was out for the season due to an injury, the Bullet Team suffered a heavy blow, and their record began to slide.
In this game, the Trail Blazers relied on tenacious one-on-one defense and their height advantage in rebounds to ultimately win 109 to 104 at home, defeating the Bullets by a margin of 5 points, ending the opponent’s winning streak, and taking their own to six consecutive victories, continuing their undefeated record.
After the game, Barkley was not satisfied and said to Gan Guoyang while embracing him, "You just rely on your teammates; your teammates are too good."
Gan Guoyang said, "You can rely on your teammates, too. You can go to a stronger team, like the Lakers, or you might as well go to Chicago and find Michael."
Barkley pondered for a moment and asked, "Can I come to Portland?"
"Sorry, Portland doesn’t have a women’s professional basketball team."
Barkley gave Gan Guoyang a thumbs up and confessed, "I love you! Ah Gan!"
Gan Guoyang smiled, said goodbye to his good friend, as they didn’t have time to sit down for a drink and chat.
That night, Barkley had to catch a plane immediately to the next destination, Salt Lake City, for a back-to-back game against the Utah Jazz the next day.
After facing Gan Guoyang, Barkley would have to go head-to-head with Karl Malone.
As the NBA entered the 90s, the battle for the inside lane became increasingly fierce.
